Paper 1: Cognition and behavior
Chapter 2: Perception
,2.1 What are sensation and perception?
Synoptic link
The electrical signals are carried from sensory organs to the brain by special
cells called neurons. These take the information to the part of the brain
that will decode it, so we can make sense of it (see page 59).
Did you know?
People who are missing one sense often find that their other senses become
stronger to compensate. For example, people who are blind often have
very acute hearing, and people who are deaf can be very sensitive to
subtle touches or slight movements.
Getting started
Sensation is the information that we receive through our senses. Our senses
are active all the time, receiving different kinds of sensory information.
Take a minute to note down some of the information you are receiving
right now.
Think about each of these senses:
Vision (what can you see?)
Hearing (what can you hear?)
Smell (can you smell anything?)
Touch (are parts of your body in contact with anything?)
Taste (can you taste anything?)
Proprioception (what positions are parts of your body in?)
Kinaesthesia (are you moving at all?)
,Sensation
The information we receive through our senses is known as sensation. We
have special sensory organs that detect information from the world, or
from inside our bodies, and convert this information into electrical signals.
That process is called transduction.
The problem is that we receive a lot more information than we can cope
with. We cannot pay attention to everything we sense. We hear lots of
sounds that do not really matter, and we see things that are not important
to what we are doing at the time. The same is true for all our senses. We
therefore need to interpret or make sense of the information that we
receive. This process is known as perception.
Building skills 1
Perception is about making sense of what our senses tell us. Different
senses produce different types of perception. Link the different types of
perception with the relevant sense.
A. Auditory perception → 2. Hearing
B. Olfactory perception → 3. Smell
C. Tactile perception → 5. Touch
D. Visual perception → 1. Vision
E. Gustatory perception → 4. Taste
, Building skills 2
Sometimes, our senses can fool us. Make up two parcels, each weighing one
kilogram. One parcel should be quite small, and the other quite large. Ask
other people to lift each parcel and tell you if they think one is heavier
than the other, and, if so, which one is heavier.
We would normally expect a large parcel to weigh quite a lot, because
what is inside a large box should be ‘big’. So, when we pick up the large
parcel, we are surprised that it is not heavier. As a result, we think that the
large parcel is light, while the small one seems heavy.
Perception
We need to make sense of the information we receive from our senses. This
is what perception is all about.
If we did not organise the information somehow, we would get
overwhelmed and not know what anything meant. When we use our eyes,
for example, they receive information about lightness, darkness, and
colour, as tiny dots. This is because each sense receptor in our retinas picks
up information from just one tiny part of the whole visual field that you
can see.
However, we do not see a mass of tiny dots even though this is what our
visual receptors receive. Instead, we see patterns, shapes, people, and
things. We may see them clearly or faintly. Sometimes, when we see just a
suggestion of a shape and not a proper shape, our experience allows us to
work out what is there. This is because of the processes of perception.
Chapter 2: Perception
,2.1 What are sensation and perception?
Synoptic link
The electrical signals are carried from sensory organs to the brain by special
cells called neurons. These take the information to the part of the brain
that will decode it, so we can make sense of it (see page 59).
Did you know?
People who are missing one sense often find that their other senses become
stronger to compensate. For example, people who are blind often have
very acute hearing, and people who are deaf can be very sensitive to
subtle touches or slight movements.
Getting started
Sensation is the information that we receive through our senses. Our senses
are active all the time, receiving different kinds of sensory information.
Take a minute to note down some of the information you are receiving
right now.
Think about each of these senses:
Vision (what can you see?)
Hearing (what can you hear?)
Smell (can you smell anything?)
Touch (are parts of your body in contact with anything?)
Taste (can you taste anything?)
Proprioception (what positions are parts of your body in?)
Kinaesthesia (are you moving at all?)
,Sensation
The information we receive through our senses is known as sensation. We
have special sensory organs that detect information from the world, or
from inside our bodies, and convert this information into electrical signals.
That process is called transduction.
The problem is that we receive a lot more information than we can cope
with. We cannot pay attention to everything we sense. We hear lots of
sounds that do not really matter, and we see things that are not important
to what we are doing at the time. The same is true for all our senses. We
therefore need to interpret or make sense of the information that we
receive. This process is known as perception.
Building skills 1
Perception is about making sense of what our senses tell us. Different
senses produce different types of perception. Link the different types of
perception with the relevant sense.
A. Auditory perception → 2. Hearing
B. Olfactory perception → 3. Smell
C. Tactile perception → 5. Touch
D. Visual perception → 1. Vision
E. Gustatory perception → 4. Taste
, Building skills 2
Sometimes, our senses can fool us. Make up two parcels, each weighing one
kilogram. One parcel should be quite small, and the other quite large. Ask
other people to lift each parcel and tell you if they think one is heavier
than the other, and, if so, which one is heavier.
We would normally expect a large parcel to weigh quite a lot, because
what is inside a large box should be ‘big’. So, when we pick up the large
parcel, we are surprised that it is not heavier. As a result, we think that the
large parcel is light, while the small one seems heavy.
Perception
We need to make sense of the information we receive from our senses. This
is what perception is all about.
If we did not organise the information somehow, we would get
overwhelmed and not know what anything meant. When we use our eyes,
for example, they receive information about lightness, darkness, and
colour, as tiny dots. This is because each sense receptor in our retinas picks
up information from just one tiny part of the whole visual field that you
can see.
However, we do not see a mass of tiny dots even though this is what our
visual receptors receive. Instead, we see patterns, shapes, people, and
things. We may see them clearly or faintly. Sometimes, when we see just a
suggestion of a shape and not a proper shape, our experience allows us to
work out what is there. This is because of the processes of perception.
